Disposal items include, in particular, surgical instruments, expendable medical items, and sterile packagings, that is, containers in which a sterile material remains until its immediate use.
A device for receiving of disposable items for an operating room is disclosed in patent DE-OS 2146823.
Surgical instruments and sterile materials such as swabs and surgical cloths required in operations, after use, are deposited directly into such a disposal container or are placed in other receptacles such as sieve baskets. For medical documentation it is then customary to document the used articles in an OR documentation list. This task is performed entirely manually. It is very laborious and time-consuming, and therefore requires highly specialized nursing staff who are familiar with the individual instruments, expendable materials, and sterile supplies and can perform the manual documentation without transmission errors.
The complexity of handling sterile materials, in the meantime, requires a sterile materials management that is capable of rapidly capturing and mastering all procedures connected with sterility in a hospital. The principle of identification and retraceability is just one of the essential tasks.
It is the object of the present invention to perfect a device for receiving of disposable items in such a way that improved documentation becomes possible.